USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania in American history > Part 17
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which, on first reading through it, I considered to be among the stupid, amateur poetry and I wished that something better could be put in its place. In the 29th verse it runs :
" Der doch träget deine Last Und dabei hat wenig Rast."
There I stopped and read the remainder over again, but while I was away attending to some other business, it was printed. I was not at ease about it. I regarded it as among those great errors of which to- day the world is full and wished that it might still remain among those rejected. I thought if it should come, either here or in Germany or any where else, before the eyes of an enlightened spirit who has found and delights in God and his Saviour as the true rest, he might be deceived by such miserable stuff after such a magnificently brilliant title-page and I should be ashamed because of my negligence. I might perhaps be able to find excuses that would answer before men, but in my breast would burn a fire that would be quenched by no excuses. I thereupon asked Brother Samuel* whether he did not think
*Samuel Eckerlin, whose cloister name was Brother Jephune and who later was driven from the Community.
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that a great mistake had here occurred in writing, since unskillful poets are often compelled for the sake of their rhyme to use words which destroy the sense. He said to me, "No, I should let it stand just as it is." I consented to it then because it sud- denly occurred to me, that in the pine forests the industrious ants gather together straw, wood, earth, shells, and resin from the pines which they carry underneath into the hill and that this is called "Weihrauch." This pacified me to some extent because it accorded with the title. Still I could not reconcile the word "Zionitisch" with it, be- cause upon Mount Zion no such collection can be found as I have described. There God is praised in silence. There are there only two hymns. The one is the song of Moses, running, briefly, like this: " Lord, thou and no other hast delivered us from all our enemies and dost protect us and lead us through outer danger." Exodus, 15th. There is no fighting or quarreling more, no time, no change of day and night. It therefore occurred to me that you must have a wonderful idea of Zion since you fix its nature but know nothing of and have not experienced real and actual death. The second song
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is short. It is the song of the Lamb which is strangled. It runs thus: "All is fulfilled. There is nothing more to do. Now praise we our God in silence."
But you said in the meeting when I was there that every verse was suitable for Mount Zion. That is easily said if a man has a well smoothed tongue. You will find out otherwise however. Meanwhile I regretted my lost time over the book and that my hope which had something honorable for its object should have so entirely failed. I spoke with Brother Samuel once more about it in what way it was to be understood. He answered me that I should not blame them for being Catholic, which I from my heart wished to be true since in the Community of Christ there are no others. For instance we believe in the mediation of holy ones and truly of those who are afterward in life. This caused me no scruple because it is my daily exercise notwithstanding I am still not holy. What then will the holy do. But when he asked me whether I believed only in one Christ I would have been shocked into a cold fever if true quiet had not pre- vented. I then read the whole hymn over again once
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more and saw the man who was intended and it gave me great sorrow. But I remembered how far the human race depart from God and that man is in- clined to idolatry and easily moved to make images and to honor himself while the tendency to depart from the true way (found only in the ground of the spirit and by the abandonment of all creature things) is born in him. He is therefore easily led to act with sects, parties, and like divisions, and one believes and receives from another that which is pleasant without real experience of what will be the outcome. It may be therefore that it ought not to be taken amiss in the writer of the hymn, since as the eyes are so do they see. Still I have no real peace about this affair. I determined then to write to you and to ask you whether you had not seen or read this piece or had not considered what a dreadful pro- duction it is; to say that without serious difficulty it can be still taken out and in its place something to the honor of God, or for the good of weak souls, can be put in where the two pages are cut out which I will do at my own expense; and to ask you whether on the other hand it was done according to your wish and inclination. If so, I would remind you
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that the good Moses could not go into Canaan be- cause he honored not the Lord when he said "must we fetch you water." See what an afflicted burden- bearer and once true knight Moses was and where is such a Moses? Herod may well have made such an unusually good address to the people that it caused them to say, "That is the voice of God and not of man." The angel struck not the unwitting people because they were inclined to idolatry but him who accepted the Godly honor. Already you suffer yourself to be called "Father."* Oh, would there were a single one who comprehended Christ and respected and carried out the commands of him who absolutely forbid that you should let any one call you master and should call any man "Father " upon this earth! The misery is already great enough, as you yourself said to me significantly. You are the greatest God in the community. When you sat still everything fell back. You had once for sometime given up the meeting and every thing fell away. Your dearest brethren hastened to the world. Even Brother N. had made a wagon in which to ride to the city. There were other instances which you
*His cloister name was " Vater Friedsam."
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told me. And did you not the other day in the meeting significantly and at great length speak of this idolatry and how they went whoring after you as is indeed the case. And now will they with full throats call and sing :
" Sehet, sehet, sehet an ! Sehet, sehet an den mann ! Der von Gott erhöhet ist Der ist unser Herr und Christ."
If Brother Samuel had not said to me con- cerning it that the hymn had a double meaning and one might take it as he chose, I should have con- sidered the last as referring to Christ and looked upon the "God without rest" as a compulsion of the verse. Are there not already molten calves enough? Is not the door to Babel great enough that they should build another little door through which they can call loudly, "See here is Christ" in order to entice souls to themselves? Do not misunderstand me. I value highly the favor of returning to you. But I fear God will play his own part in it and leave the beautiful vessel empty lest otherwise upright souls might suffer an injury which certainly would
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cause no single child of God pleasure. Much more were it to be wished from the innermost heart that all the might of the stars were entirely lost and that Christ were indeed the ruler in you and the whole community. This would give me great joy to look upon through my whole life long. There is nothing more to say except that, with the permission of Brother Michael,* I should like, if I might, to take out this one hymn and put another in its place be- cause it concerns the honor of God. It is easy to see that I have no earthly concern in it and that the influence of no man's interest has anything to do with it. There are still as many as a hundred hymns with which you can feed the senses that they die not. I am sure that a thousand pounds would not persuade me to print such a one for the reason that it leads the easy way to idolatry. If it were my paper it would have been already burned. But my suggestion was met by the brethren only with scornful and mocking words and at last they said, "Now we will pack up the paper." I thought "they have still better right to it than the Hussars." With such disposition of the matter for my own part I can *Michael Wohlfahrt, who in the cloister was Brother Agonius.
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be at peace. God will find a way to protect His honor. As to the rest I love thee still.
CHRISTOPH SAUR.
Thereupon I received the following letter in- stead of an answer.
In some respects the subject is entirely too bad for me to have anything to do with thee about it since it has been written: « Answer not a fool ac- cording to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him."
" Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit." This is the reason that I have been moved and thou 'needst not think that thou hast made a point. But that I should be like unto thee from having to do with thee will not happen since we already before made the mistake of having too much to do with thee. Thou wast not fit for our community. Therein also was fulfilled what has been written: "As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart."
If thou hadst not always acted in this way it might perhaps have been thought that there was
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some reason for it, but since thy whole heart is always ready to blame what is above thy conceited Sophist-heaven, it is no wonder to me that thou comst now puffed up with such foolish and desperate conceits: through which thou layest thyself so bare that any one who has only ordinary eyes can see that thou art indeed a miserable Sophist. If thou hadst only learned natural morality thou wouldst not have been so puffed up. A wise man does not strive to master or to describe a cause of which he has neither comprehension nor experience but it is otherwise with a fool. Thou ought first to go to school and learn the lowly and despised way of the Cross of Jesus before thou imaginest thyself to be a master. Enough for thee. This may inform thee that hence- forth I will have nothing to do with thy two-sided double-hearted odious and half hypocritical pre- tensions of Godliness, since thy heart is not clean before God otherwise thou wouldst walk upright in the way and go not the crooked way thou dost.
One almost springs aloft when he sees how shamefully the name of God is misused.
The world sings its little song and dances straight and without hesitation to hell and covers it
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over with the name of God so that the deception and wickedness may not be seen. Believe me, thy way is sure to come before God, thy juggling tricks and spiritual sleight of hand which thou, from the natural stars and not in the true fear of God, hast learned will come to judgment: and I say to thee as the word of truth that if thou dost not make atonement and change thy heart thou mayest expect a wrathful and terrible God, since the Lord is hos- tile to all that is double-faced and false. Indeed the paths which lead out from thee run through one another so wonderfully that the wonder is that God does not punish at once as he did the rebel- lious pack, Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
Thou hast also in thy letter to me said that a fire burned in thy breast over this or that. It would be a good thing if that fire, if there is one, should consume thee until there should nothing remain but a soft and sweet spring of water in which thy heart might be mollified to true repentance. Then in- deed couldst thou for the first time learn to know rightly what is from God and what from nature, what from God and what from the stars in the heavens.
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When I know of a man that he does not bend before God but still walks in his own highway, I accept absolutely no judgment as in Godly affairs, but say to him freely that he wash and clean him- self before I can have anything to do with him.
As concerning those other things in which one man has to do with another it has also come to an end. Further and lastly it is my determination to remain as I have said above. I am so tired of the untruth of men that if I were not under the great- est necessity, if God did not plainly intend and it were not His will that I must be needed for the cause of conscience, I would rather be dismissed into the still everlasting. On that account I would have prayed that I might henceforth be spared from such defamation, but should it give pleasure to load me with more of it I shall bear myself as one who knows not that there are such things in the world. I will at the last be separated from all and will no further participate either pro or con. Still will I in some measure continue my writing and do it again if circumstances require it.
What I have still further to say is this: that henceforth all right over my person shall be taken
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entirely out of thy hands, since thou for many years hast gone to work so wonderfully about it as if thou hadst bought it for a sum of money in order to do with it according to thy pleasure. Thou must not think that one is blind and foolish and dost not see what thou hast in mind. It does not even please me that I could write German to thee since thy envy and falsehood are so great that it is not easy to measure them. Therefore I consider thee en- tirely unfit to be a judge in Godly affairs, and for this reason I have little or nothing to answer to thy letter. Thou hast no experience in the way of God, for thou all the time walkest thine own way.
Comment .*
We have here now heard a voice, whether it came from Zion or Mount Sinai may those judge who know the difference. I am inclined to make a comment upon each word but every one may make his own as he chooses. I wish him only the soft and sweet spring of water which he needs instead of the fiery zeal of Sinai. Otherwise when he goes forth soon will he make fire fall from heaven, which we already hear crackle in his letter, and do signs * By Sower.
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and wonders. If I had thought he would take the trouble to describe my propensities and his I would have sent him a great register of the old Adam in me which I could describe much better than he. Since I for a long time have besought God to enable me thoroughly to discern their enormity and since I had found so much to do with myself I am ready to say the simple truth so that no man need be dis- turbed about me. And this is the reason for my long silence, and also for my thinking seldom of his person, not that it is too bad for me but because it can neither aid nor hinder me. If I were in such a position as he is, to give my nature possession I should need only the princes and powerful who still to a considerable degree have rule over the conceited Sophist-heaven, since they desire much to rule upon earth and to fasten their throne there. I could also have given him certain information that I have been beloved by many spiritual persons who truly were more beautiful and purer than those whom he holds above Christ. God had also so willed it that I for the same time cannot otherwise believe than that all is good to which the same spirit impelled me. I blame not the spirit which impelled him. He is
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God's creature. I only say : he is not clean and is still far from the spirit of Christ. I rejoice that he praises God the Lord as all good spirits do, and in that respect I love him. I hate only the untruth which he brings to light and wishes to lay in the hearts of men. Therefore is he a blending of good and evil. And when he (as that one which through a maid had his pleasure in telling only the truth) pointed out the Apostles to men, and sought to further their happiness (Acts ch. xv. v. 17), I should leave him in the place for which he is good and as for myself rather hunger until death for the com- pleteness of my Jesus. In that I make myself entirely clear. In like manner I make a distinction between Conrad Beissel as he stands in his still well pro- portioned attributes derived from the old-birth or birth of the stars.
When one approaches him he shows first the complaisance of Jove; when one bends, rises, and heeds well he finds his sweetness and lovingness from Venus, his solar understanding and mercurial readiness. If one fails a little he shows the gravity and earnestness of Saturn. If one attacks only a
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little his spiritual pride he shows the severity of Mars with thunder and lightning, popely ban, the sword of vengeance and fiery magic. What can induce a weak soul in sorrow and need to come and lay itself humbly at his feet when the unclean spirit, which takes pleasure in the fact, triumphs in this way. Therefore would I counsel no one upon whom he has laid his hands or who has been baptized by him or by another Father since all those who have given up the world and the gross fleshly life are prepared to be the habitations of a spirit, and through their own freed spirit and its suggestions and the help of other spirits they have the power to torture a de- serter and to put him in pain of body and soul and also those who have little strength and do not depend with their whole hearts upon the true living God, but rely particularly upon their own virtues. Conrad has subjected me to this proof. He has intruded upon my ethereal past, which has taught me how it goes with others, and how I have need of the support of my Saviour and to press into the centre of love or heart of Jesus where this aqua fortis cannot reach. Therefore as I have said I would counsel no one without higher strength to oppose
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this Spirit. It is very powerful. And yet they are not bound by this strong magic, they have a free will. God has for many years shown me how many good and beautiful spirits there are which still are not clean. Already in the time of the Apostles there were many spirits which had gone beyond their limits in this our world. I therefore do not believe all that every one tells me, even when they speak through a spirit and speak only what the spirit says. The moon goes through many phases and this is also his nature. It has happened because of his beautiful and well proportioned nature that he would like to be something great. He looked upon the dumb creatures in their deformity and wanted to bring them to the right. For this pur- pose he took the means, method and way which pleased him. So that now all must dance according to his will and do what through the power of his magic he compels. But I also want to say that I by no means overlook what he has in him which is good, and I freely recognize that he has much that a true Christian cannot be without, and this many innocent people see and they are drawn to him by it. But for myself I can never be attached to him
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for the reason that I know that his teaching hith- erto has been a compound of Moses, Christ, Gich- tel and Conrad Beissel. And no one of them complete. The spirit of Moses stood up boldly and prayed for the people who had disobeyed him and done wrong. Should his people oppose him how soon would Mercury spread his wings. Christ
was of an entirely different disposition. He knew his betrayer long before, and when the latter came to take his life he was such a gentle lamb that he said, "Friend ! wherefore art thou come?" He received his kiss. He cured the ear of Malchus. Our dear Conrad is very far from anything of that kind. In many points he is very close to Gichtel and still closer to the little beast, described in Rev- elations 13 ch. II v. which represents his peculiar- ity in spiritual things. His figure is such that if one beseeches him he has the horns of a lamb, but if one touches his temper only a little he speaks like a dragon and is indeed not to be regarded as the first great beast whose number is 666. He is not indeed so beast-like but is also not clean Godly, but is humanly peculiar and no other than CVnraDVs BeIseLVs. DCLVVVI. 666.
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If he had not for the future entirely taken out of my hands all right to his very holy person I could and would have opened up to him the inner ground of his heart a little between me and him alone but I must now be entirely silent for I am bound hand and foot. It seems to me that during the two weeks which he took to write to me he did not once remember him who suffered an entirely different opposition from sinners, who although he was in the Godly image held it not for a wrong to be like God but lowered himself and became as a man. But this one must be re- garded as a God and therefore the little calf should and must remain upon its place. When my Saviour had done a notable deed he desired that it should be unknown. See to it that no man learn of it. But to this God, we must sing his folly. If I had had ten hymns in the book and had been requested I would have taken them out, but Conrad is not accustomed to having his will broken. I could have overlooked it in silence out of natural mod- esty and as a printer but it concerned the love of God that I should not be silent. The spiritual harlotry and idolatry would have been increased
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and confirmed by my support. I would rather die of hunger than earn my bread in such a way. It would go worse with me than with the primate in Poland who proclaimed a king upon the throne and could not keep him there. I have, without baptizing myself and letting myself be baptized four times (like him) placed myself under the stan- dard of my Saviour and loved him and still have not had the freedom to ask of him that he make an officer of me, but I gave myself to him as he best knows as poor clay to be formed in his hand as by a potter, or to be thrown into a corner as clay which is worthless. He has nevertheless appointed me as the least beneath his standard as a sentry to watch my post, a watchword has been given me which reads "Love and humility." When I then upon the dark nights call out "who goes there" and this parole is not answered me I know that it is no good friend and no man of ours. I must then fire my piece so that each upon his post may be warned. But since the Commander is not far away he will himself have a care. To him only the honor. For me willingly the shame.
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION
[Address delivered on Memorial Day, May 30, 1898, before Colonel Frederick Taylor Post, No. 19, G. A. R.]
T HE war of the rebellion was the outcome of conditions which had existed for so long a time, the events connected with it were so varied and complicated, its requirements of sacrifice both of life and substance were so tremendous, and its consequences were so limitless, that upon an occasion of this character no more can be expected than the expression of a few desultory thoughts upon a subject of such vast proportions. Should we be able to add anything in the way of information or suggestion to its literature, no matter how unim- portant the contribution, we may well be content.
No more definite and correct forecast of a future event is chronicled in the history of any na- tion than a prophecy concerning the coming of Mr. Lincoln, to which I am about to call your attention.
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Thomas Buchanan Read-a poet with a rare gift of song, whom the English critics compared to Gray, and whose " Wagoner of the Alleghanies" should be read in every American household-born along the Brandywine, in the county of Chester, in this state, wrote a "New Pastoral," which was published in Philadelphia in 1855, but whose scene was laid in the early part of the century. In describing the wanderings of a Quaker family from Pennsylvania to the prairies of Illinois, he says:
"and northern lakes
Shall bear their produce, and return them wealth; And Mississippi, father of the floods, Perform their errands to the Mexic Gulf, And send them back the tropic bales and fruits. Then shall the generations musing here, Dream of the troublous days before their time; And antiquaries point the very spot Where rose the first rude cabin, and the space Where stood the forest-chapel with its graves, And where the earliest marriage rites were said. Here, in the middle of the nation's arms, Perchance the mightiest inland mart shall spring. Here the great statesman from the ranks of toil May rise, with judgment clear, as strong as wise; And, with a well-directed patriot-blow, Reclinch the rivets in our union-bands,
Which tinkering knaves have striven to set ajar!"
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The underlying cause of the war was the de- termination of those whose commercial and political importance was based upon the ownership of labor to maintain and extend the institution of human slavery. I am well aware that under the softening influence of time and the restoration of kindly feeling there is a growing disposition to regard the struggle as involving solely the interpretation of the constitution and the settlement of the question of the sovereignty of the states. But experience teaches that while in every lawsuit the contestants are ap- parently striving for the determination of legal principles, the inspiring motives lie deeper and seek results more concrete and substantial. If our pur- pose be really to ascertain the truth we will turn away from the mere comment of a later day and look at the records of the time, and the conduct of the parties while in action, and see what this exam- ination discloses. In 1862, the second year of the war, there was published at Atlanta, Georgia, "A System of Modern Geography," "For the use of Schools and Academies in the Confederate States of America." And the children were taught about the United States that "this number was reduced to
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